Miami, May 9 (EFE).- Argentine filmmaker Juan José Campanella returns to the small screen with a new episode of the American television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”), and he confesses this Tuesday, in an interview with EFE, that the film “How beautiful it is to live” was the cause of his leaving everything for the cinema in 1980.
Campanella (Buenos Aires, 1959), resumes the baton in “Lime Chaser”, a new installment of the 24th season of this successful and shocking weekly police series born in 1999 (the longest running of its kind) that is broadcast tonight on Universal TV.
The Argentine’s idyll with this series of crime dramas that has fascinated and horrified its audience for 24 years dates back to the year 2000, and since then he has become an almost essential director of the series due to his sober and intense vision.
Asked what the secret of the longevity of this “spin-off” of “Law and Order”, after 24 seasons and a renewal for two more, Campanella says that “there is no formula” that explains the keys to its success, unless being “the conjunction of good work, the content of a series that feeds on reality” and the knowledge “to change with society to stay fresh”.
If the true and gritty stories are the muscle of the series, the “strong and emotional anchor” of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, its center of gravity, is undoubtedly the character of Olivia Benson, the hardened and compassionate police officer who fights the darkest crimes.
OLIVIA BENSON IS THE “CAMPARI” OF THE SERIES
“She (Mariska Hargitay, who plays Benson) is something unique in the history of television, she is the most perfect communion between character and actress”, to the point that Mariska is “Law and Order”, she says with affection and admiration for the actress.
Regarding this key role played by Hargitay (or Benson, such is the fusion of the two), the screenwriter and film and television producer also humorously says that it is like the Negroni cocktail: “you can change many condiments, but not the Campari”.
“Without Mariska there is no SVU (Special Victims Unit)”, he affirms bluntly.
Hargitay is the Campari of the combo (the television series), her chemistry with the plot of each episode is perfect, although she, the person, is “more effusive and smiling” than the character, a “stoic and even taciturn” agent.
“My always plea to the authors is ‘let’s make Oliva Benson smile more’, humorously adds Campanella, winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for “The Secret in Their Eyes” (2010).
Regarding the treatment that he gives to his shootings in this innovative series of the “Law and Order” franchise, Campanella highlights “the intensity of content and sobriety” as pillars of the series.
The search prior to filming for “the most emotional moments, the dramatic anchors of each chapter” is essential to find out “how does this impact our fixed characters emotionally”.
Then, depending on the findings, “I work with the writers, I don’t rewrite, but I do make comments so that those peaks of intensity come to light,” Campanella highlights.
“HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS TO LIVE”, A DECISIVE FILM
Asked when he became aware that cinema was his thing, the Argentine, who was going to be an engineer, precisely cites the moment: “It was in February 1980, when I saw the movie ‘Qué bello es vivir’ (“It’s a Wonderful Life” ), then I had been studying average cinema at night as a hobby for six months”.
Another film that had an impact on him and was decisive for him to accept that cinema was his thing was “All That Jazz” (1979), by Bob Fosse, he recalls.
However, Campanella explains that his excessive love for cinema dates back to his childhood, years in which he preferred, instead of going to play football, to go to the movies and try to convince his friends to accompany him.
“It was a golden age of cinema, between the 1960s and 1970s, when there were still neighborhood cinemas in Buenos Aires. In mine there were four cinemas and I went four days a week. Now there are none, ”she says with a touch of nostalgia.
The director and screenwriter of films such as “El misma amor, la misma lluvia” (1999), “El hijo de la novia” (2001) or “Luna de Avellaneda” (2004) is disenchanted and perplexed by the current direction of the film industry, and says that “now everything is in a state of hodgepodge and effervescence with the (audiovisual) platforms, which have altered everything.”
